Flooolight keeps turning on because of wind.

My outdoor motion-activate floodlight keeps turning on because of the
wind. Every ten minutes sometimes. Every hour at other times. Is
this likely to lessen when it gets warmer??
(It's about 25 at night these days.)
It has 3 settings for sensitivity, and it's set to low.
Maybe the previous floodlight did this too -- do you think so? -- but
I didn't know about it. This one has a radio-connected beeper in the
house that beeps when the light goes on. (It would turn on a lamp too
if one were plugged int.
This is the floodlight I can't reach with a ladder, but next time I
have to lower it from the inside, can I make it less sensitive by
putting tape over part of the the 1x2.5 inch window that looks for
motion? Knowing that I won't be able to do this more often than eery
two years or more, where would you put the tape, in the middle, at one
edge? How much of it would you cover?
Thabks a lot.

Motion detectors are more sensitive in cold weather. Mine does the same on
cold nights if it is windy.
I'm not sure that the tape is a good thing because it will reduce the
sensitivity in warm weather. Taping the sides will reduce the field of
vision. That is OK if a tree branch is the culprit and you can take it out
of the view. You are correcting for something that happens maybe 10 or 15
nights a year that has consequences for the other 350 nights too, so do so
with care.

ONe of mine does the same thing when we have windy days. I have mine
set on hi sensitivity so I just turn it off during those times. I
had to experiment with it to get it just right, adjusting the controls
and pointing the light in various directions. You might want to get
another brand--they are inexpensive and the local police say they do
somewhat help with security.

===========================================================================
We have two such fixrures. After dusk;
The one over the garage door seems to react mainly to 'warm' bodies. A
person getting out of car at say 15-20 feet.
A vehicle backing up at or coming in head first at say 10 feet. Rarely
if ever triggers to motion but is some 15 feet from, at this time of
year, nearest leafless tree.
The similar one at end of house seems to trigger much more frequently
but mainly on windy nights. It is some 5 feet (or less) from more
numerous leafless tree branches.
For info: Cheers
PS. They were fairly cheap fixtures; on sale at around $16.

Thanks everyone. That's what I paid, 15 dollars. Maybe I should
have paid more. But not only was I going to save 25 dollars, it had
this beeper that would tell me when the light went on. I'd never seen
that before.
BTW, it works perfectly when I walk in front of it, or even to the
side. It says it has 210 degree coverage. But it's mounted against a
wall so I can't test that. It does have 180 degrees it seems.
And mouting 22 feet high without a ladder, from the ground and the
inside of the attic worked well.

II did see many years ago where sections of highway would be controlled by
motion detectors. Then oil got cheap again and I never saw the idea again.
It would turn on the lights at some distance ahead of you. Included in
that should be parking lot lights where no one is parked. Incredible how
many locations of closed businesses are well lit all night. Makes no sense
at all.

It has been shown that much of the lighting we have does not good at all for
crime prevention. If a parking lot is 5 acres and has motion detectors, the
light will still go on where the people that are attempting to do bad things
are hiding.
Almost three years ago four additional stores were built at a nearby
shopping center in town. They are still vacant. The lights, however, are on
24/7 all those years. I'd have to bet that one fixture in each would give
enough light for a police patrol to see anyone hiding in the empty building.
Especailly during the day.

There are sometimes some other reasons as well...there's a similar
situation w/ a new industrial complex near here. Turns out the contract
w/ the utility for constructing the additional service lines is tied
into a use clause. Don't have the use, pay for the installation of the
lines. The power costs are miniscule in comparison so they pay them.
--

I had a similar problem with a cheap unit. The wind was shaking the
lamps and the whole unit so it "looked" like the whole view was moving
but it was the cheap fixture moving in the wind. Armed with screws,
super glue and caulking I stiffened it up enough so that only the
windiest weather would set it off.

Next time I'll go out and look for that. Or when it's windy during the
daytime. Maybe I didn't tighten the nut holding the sensor on enough.
And if it's the screws attaching it to the wall, I can still tighten
them from inside the attic. I'll use binoculars.
My other floodlight, a name brand, behind my bed also goes on once in
a while. It doesnt' beep but I don't think it's nearly as often.
The one in this thread is from Cooper Lighting.
MS269R. I should have said that first.

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